FIX: Surface Pen won’t work with Surface Pro 4

The Surface pen delivers the ultimate in modern writing experience, as you write, draw or mark-up your documents, take notes and capture your thoughts quickly, and instantly convert these to text for ease of search and sharing – digitally.

1. Pen won’t ink

Test the LED functionality, if it doesn’t come on, then the problem is a power issue.

Run Windows Updates or the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit.

Restart your Surface device, even if it restarted during Windows Updates.

Replace the battery.

If these steps do not work, you will need to replace your Surface Pen.

2. Pen light blinks red or won’t turn on

This means your AAAA battery is low and needs replacement. To replace it, do this:

For Surface pen with no clip, pull the top end out from the bottom, replace the battery and push the parts of the pen back together

For Surface pen with a single long button, turn the cap or the end of the eraser in a counter-clockwise manner to the body until it clicks. Pull the cap from the body and replace the AAAA battery with the negative end pointing toward the writing tip. Replace the cap by lining up the metal guide bump on the cap with the half-circle cutaway on the body, and slide the cap back into its place. Turn it a little to align the flat edges.

Surface Pen with two buttons on the side: unscrew the top of the pen from the bottom, replace the battery with the positive end pointing toward the tip, then screw the top back on

Choose Surface Pen from the list of devices and follow the prompts, then select Done

5. Pen won’t pair with Surface Pro 4 or open apps

Press and hold the top button for about five seconds then let go. If the LED light blinks continuously, the pen is receiving power and is trying to pair with the device, so follow the pairing steps. If this doesn’t help, restart your Surface Pro 4 and try pairing again. If the LED light blinks for about 3 seconds, then the Pen is paired to another Surface device nearby so find it and remove the pen.

Once you remove the pairing, go back to your own Surface Pro 4 and pair it again with the pen

6. Clicking or double-clicking doesn’t work

Ensure Bluetooth is on and your pen is connected to the Surface. Change pen shortcuts so that the buttons do what you want them to. To do this:

Go to the taskbar, select Windows Ink Workspace.

Select Pen & Windows Ink settings.

Go to Pen shortcuts

Choose Windows Ink Workspaceor the app you want to open for each pen shortcut

7. Pen tip broke, got lost or is worn out

If your Surface pen has no clip or has a single long button on a flat edge, get a pen tip kit at the Microsoft Store or online. The tip kits differ from one pen to another, so ensure you get one that matches your pen model. Your Surface needs to be registered to order pen tips, plus you have to log in with your Microsoft account.

8. Update Surface Pen driver

If you’re using a wrong driver, you may not be able to use your Surface Pen, but you can update the Surface Pen driver manually, or use a driver detector.

9. Reboot your tablet to clear corruption issues

There is a possibility of corruption issues on your Surface Pro 4 which can disable your Surface Pen. In order to resolve this, completely reboot your Surface Pro 4 device to clear corruption issues. A two-button shutdown will switch off the Surface Pro 4 completely. So you can fix the pen using a two-button shutdown, then reboot your device.

To do this:

Press and hold the power button on your Surface Pro 4 for thirty seconds, then release it

Press and hold the power button and volume up (+) button at the same time for 15 seconds. If the logo displays, don’t let go of the buttons

Wait for a little over 10 seconds and then start the Surface Pro 4 again, and see if the Surface Pen works

Did any of these solutions help? Let us know by leaving a comment in the section below.